001/*
002 * ModeShape (http://www.modeshape.org)
003 *
004 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
005 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
006 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
007 *
008 *       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
009 *
010 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
011 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
012 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
013 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
014 * limitations under the License.
015 */
016package org.modeshape.common.collection;
017
018import java.util.List;
019import java.util.Map;
020
021/**
022 * A collection similar to {@link Map}, but which may associate multiple values with any single key.
023 * <p>
024 * Some implementation may not allow duplicate key-value pairs. In such implementations, calling #pu
025 * </p>
026 * 
027 * @param <K> the key type
028 * @param <V> the value type
029 */
030public interface ListMultimap<K, V> extends Multimap<K, V> {
031
032    /**
033     * Get the collection of values that are associated with the supplied key.
034     * <p>
035     * Changes to the returned collection will update the values that this multimap associates with the key.
036     * </p>
037     * 
038     * @param key the key
039     * @return the collection of values, or an empty collection if the supplied key was not associated with any values
040     */
041    @Override
042    List<V> get( K key );
043}